What not to do after your workout; mistakes that can sabotage your goals
By Healthy Black Woman
When you try your hardest at eating properly and exercising the right way, sometimes you can be uninformed or misinformed and make small mistakes that can actually hold you back from your health goals. Here are five common missteps that some take that you can avoid.
1. Eating too little fat can hinder your progress, as strange as that may sound. There are good fats that should be eaten too, such as fats from avocados, nuts, and coconut oil. Just because it has the word ‘fat’ doesn’t mean that it is terrible for you. These healthy fats keep you fuller longer, help to stimulate the metabolism, and will help you to lose weight in the long run.
2. If you have done an in-tense 90 minute workout and you are sweating like crazy, a sports drink is better than plain old water due to the electrolytes that you need to replenish. However if you are reaching for that sports drink every time that you do a workout, you are ingesting too many carbs and sugars. Sports drinks are meant for a hardcore workout where you won’t be able to get food in your system for a while after.
3. You need to eat after you have worked out, just don’t pig out. Eat a plate of veggies or a salad with nuts after your work-out, or even a piece of grilled chicken. These have the protein and nutrients that you need to build your muscles and to give your workout that extra punch but don’t have all of the fats and calories that you fear.
4. Eating protein after a workout is a great idea, but you shouldn’t have just the protein. You need to incorporate some veggies with it too to replenish the nutrients and antioxidants that you have sweated out of your body.
5. Be careful of what you eat after a workout. If you are grabbing a protein bar or a smoothie on the way out of the gym and then running home to make dinner which you eat a short time later, you are hurting more than helping. That one protein bar or smoothie has enough calories and carbs to be considered a small meal too.
